Nataley Davis | staff writer

Enron Corporation’s CEO, Pittsburgh native Jeffery Skilling, lived a life tortured by money, power and lust.

When the media found out that Skilling’s company had been fudging the numbers, it caused the largest business bankruptcy in the nation’s history.

In 2009, years after the 2001 scandal, Emmy Award winning screen writer Lucy Prebble set out to tell the true story of Enron’s rise and eventual downfall, highlighting the key players that contributed to the company’s infamous bankruptcy.

The play recounts these events in an avant-garde style, experimenting with choreography and digital production. Quantum Theatre premiered their production of the play at One Oxford Centre in Downtown Pittsburgh on Oct. 30

“Enron” brings light to — and pokes fun at — corporate greed by portraying an accountant as a ventriloquist’s puppet, the company’s board members as blind mice and Enron’s debt as hungry raptors.

Ken Lay, played by Ken Bolden, is Skilling’s predecessor and was also involved in the bankruptcy scandal. Bolden said that playing a criminal required tapping into their point of view.

“To be your character’s advocate as an actor’s job is not to judge their character, but to present them humanely — and at least in the character’s eyes — sympathetically,” Bolden said. “These characters certainly believe on some level that what they were doing was right.”

Bolden said that he exaggerated Lay’s Southern charm and deep roots in the Baptist Church for the stage instead of simply doing an impression.

When Lay got arrested for conspiracy and other charges he said, “Jesus is with me and we’re going to be all right,” displaying that he truly believed he was innocent.

Lay died of a heart attack before he could be sentenced.

Quantum Theatre, a traveling theatre company, is made up of progressive artists dedicated to staging productions in uncommon spaces.

One Oxford Centre, a business hub in the heart of Pittsburgh, fit the theme of the home of this year’s production.

What was once a meeting space had been transformed into an office building illuminated with lights, dance numbers and projections on the walls of media from the 90s to immerse the audience in the play’s setting.

Throughout the show, the spotlights shined on a main conversation between two people, with other silent scenes taking place in the background.

Todd Rooney, a teacher from Central Catholic High School, brought his students to the play to teach them about different performance formats.

Along with connecting the relevant themes of corporate greed to today’s society, Rooney said that he wanted his students to think about creative ways to recount events.

“I hope that they can see how you can use a variety of storytelling techniques to make something that on paper is a little dry — this is a financial scandal — to make it into something that is compelling and can really speak to the human condition in a way that reading a report doesn’t,” Rooney said.

After the show on Nov. 2, the audience was invited to a Q&A session with the actors and director.

One attendee asked actress Christine Weber what it is like to play Claudia Roe, who is not directly based on a real person. Roe acts as Skilling’s moral opponent throughout the play, constantly questioning his motives, and eventually gets fired during Skilling’s tenure as CEO.

Weber said that the character seems to be loosely based off of Rebecca Mark, who worked alongside Skilling, but Prebble leaves that up to interpretation.

She said that having this abstract figure to go off of helped to prepare her for the role, but also gave her the freedom to experiment with the character.

“How much is she playing the game just as much? How much is she actually invested in him?” Weber said.

“In terms of the actual historical character part of it, it was just enough to be a nice launch, but then it was kind of up to me to figure out.”

Hazy J, associate producer for Quantum Theatre, said that they want people to leave the play with a deeper message than simply reflecting on the greed of Skilling and the other Enron employees.

“I hope that people know that there can be justice for things that are bad in this world,” J said. “We should be holding these people accountable that are doing these terrible things, and we can’t just let it slide.”

The production of “Enron” will run until Nov. 23. Exact times and ticket information to be found at Quantum Theatre’s website.

Nataley Davis can be reached at davisn5@duq.edu